Running Drills for Beginners: A-Skip and B-Skip Fully Explained

Drill Is Not a Warm-Up Gimmick

Many people treat running technique drills as a warm-up ritual and just go through the motions. In reality, movements like A-skips and B-skips break the running cycle of “knee drive—foot strike—paw-back—push-off” into slow motion, deliberately training neuromuscular coordination and the timing of “active foot strike.” Done right, your form will quietly become cleaner; done wrong, you’re just hopping in place.

A-Skip: Building Rhythm and Knee Drive with Foot Strike

Key Points:

1. While hopping on one leg, drive the opposite knee up until the thigh is nearly parallel to the ground, with the ankle dorsiflexed (toes pulled up).
2. At the top of the movement, actively and forcefully “stamp the foot back down and paw it toward the ground”, landing directly beneath your center of mass, with the forefoot making contact.
3. Keep your torso upright with a slight forward lean, arms swinging in coordination as in running, with a crisp “tap—tap—tap” rhythm.

The Focus Is on “Foot Strike,” Not “Knee Drive”: Many people only focus on lifting the knee high, overlooking that the real purpose of the A-skip is the “active paw-back” before landing—this is exactly the key to efficiently “brushing the ground backward” in high-performance running.

Common Mistakes:

• Leaning back and driving with the lower back → power should come from the hips.
• Landing in front of the body (turning it into a stride) → high impact and trains the wrong pattern.
• Toes pointing down without dorsiflexion → loses ankle stiffness and the sound becomes dull.

B-Skip: Adding Leg Extension and Paw-Back

The B-skip is a progression from the A-skip: after driving the knee to the top, extend the lower leg forward (like a kick), then “sweep” it back to the ground in an arc. It reinforces the “whip-like recovery and paw-back” of the lower leg before landing, more closely mimicking the leg mechanics of high-speed running.

Key Points: Knee drive → lower leg extension → let the hips lead the entire leg “sweeping” back and down, with the landing point still beneath your center of mass. The movement should be fluid like “pedaling the front half of a bicycle circle and then brushing backward,” not a stiff kick.

Common Mistakes: Letting the foot “drop” back passively after extending the lower leg instead of “sweeping” it back actively; leaning backward because of the kicking motion.

Common Technique Drills and Training Focus

How to Schedule Each Week

• Place them in the latter part of the warm-up for easy runs or quality sessions (technique quality is highest when warmed up but not yet fatigued).
• 2–3 times per week, 8–12 minutes each session, prioritizing “quality” over “quantity”—5 slow, precise reps beat 15 rushed ones.
• Early in the season, focus on “learning” with higher volume; mid-season, switch to short “maintenance” doses.

Transferring from Drills Back to Running

Immediately after finishing drills, do 2–4 strides to bring the “foot strike/paw-back/rhythm” you just reinforced back into actual running movement—this “drill→strides→normal running” progression is the key to skill transfer. Doing drills without transitioning into running will significantly diminish the learning effect.

Coach’s Perspective: In the A-skip, I’m not looking at how high the knee lifts, but “whether the foot strike makes a sound and whether it’s crisp.” Knee drive is for show; active foot strike is for your running form—remember this, and your drills will be better than 80% of people.

Related Reading

• Strides and Bounding: Writing Speed Sensation into Your Nervous System
• The Biomechanics of Running Form: Stance, Cadence, and Efficiency—Everything About Whether You Should Change Your Form
• Warm-Up and Cool-Down for Road Running: A 5-Minute Dynamic Warm-Up and Static Stretching Combo
• 10 Freestyle Technique Drills Every Adult Swimmer Must Practice: Each with Purpose and Reps